What Makes You Different
by wickedsingularity
Summary: [One-shot] Three scenes from Jim and his significant other's lives, showing their progress from friends to marriage.


A/N

_For thefanficfaerie's Backstreet's Back challenge on tumblr. I had the song "What Makes You Different". I wanted to do so much more with this, but moving came in the way._

* * *

_When I look at you, I see something rare  
A rose that can grow anywhere  
And there's no one I know that can compare_

She had been in his Warp Theory, Basic Warp Design and Astrophysics classes at the Academy. Jim hadn't paid much attention to her at first. To him, she was just the same as what the rest of their classmates saw her as, the mining-spawn that didn't belong in Starfleet.

She had come from basically nothing. Her parents were third generation miners on a struggling moon that had been colonized right before the Federation was founded. She had been expected to join her two brothers in the family mining business – brothers who had too big ambitions about how to make the business flourish, but she had always looked to the stars.

Only when they had been paired together for a project in Astrophysics towards the end of the first semester, did Jim's eyes open up to her. Her determination to do well, and how well she actually did. How she was able to turn a deaf ear to their classmates' whispered remarks or a blind eye to the eye-rolling whenever she gave solid answers to their teachers. How effortlessly smart she seemed to be. Something about it felt familiar to Jim and they made fast friends, and towards the end of the first year of the Academy, she was one of his closest friends.

After celebrating yet another aced end-of-year exam, Jim came back from a bar in the city centre, a bit unsteady on his feet from one too many Andorian ales and found her lying across a bench near campus, arms behind her head, staring up at the sky.

"What're you lying here for?" he asked, stumbling over and leaning across the back of the bench.

She hadn't even turned to look at him, but just nodded gently upwards.

He looked up at the dark sky, littered with stars and the occasional blinking light from a shuttlecraft on the way to one of the many space docks up there.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, a small smile on her lips.

Finding it hard to stand there and look up in his state, Jim sauntered around and unceremoniously lifted her legs and plopped down on the bench, letting her rest her legs in his lap.

"It is," he replied. "But why're you lying here in the middle of the night staring at it?"

"It's the reason why I'm here," she said simply. "I just got so tired of studying for the exams and feeling like I'm constantly walking uphill, I needed to get out here and be reminded of why I'm here. I used to spend countless nights sneaking up to our roof at home and just stare at the stars. Have I ever told you about that?"

"Don't think you have..."

She went quiet for a bit, still gazing upwards. "My parents always said I was a dreamer who had her head stuck in the clouds," she said finally, quietly. Jim looked away from the diamond studded black canvas and down to her face, barely lit by a nearby streetlamp. "That's why I started sneaking up on the roof at night. Didn't want to sit on the porch or in the garden anymore. They said I had to keep my feet on the ground. Stop wasting my time in the clouds and join my brothers with the mining. But I never wanted to be stuck underground, in the dark. I wanted to go up, into the light."

"Space is dark," Jim then said, humour in his voice. "There's no light up there."

"It's light to me. Stars, suns, planets, all emitting light." She got quiet again.

Jim rested his hands on her legs. His thumbs moved absentmindedly over her smooth skin until she spoke again.

"I studied on my own. And then I ran away and took the entrance exam. My parents were not happy, to put it mildly. But I longed for the stars. I can't remember a time when I didn't long for them."

Jim hummed. "I think I've longed for them too."

She looked at him. "But it still took being beaten senseless and a dare from a Starfleet Captain to make you sign up."

"Gotta play hard to get." He flicked the skin on her ankle, right above her well-worn flats.

"Hard to get aren't exactly words I would use to describe you, Jim Kirk." She lifted a leg as if she was about to kick his face.

Jim chuckled, but then they fell silent again, looking back up at the night sky. Jim felt like he sobered up as his admiration for her grew.

And when they graduated a few years later, after the destruction of Vulcan, when he watched her from the crowd as she gave her speech as the top of her Engineering class, he felt so proud. Knowing where she came from, knowing how most of their classmates had ridiculed her and talked behind her back and said that "mining-spawn had nothing to do in Starfleet", and yet she had surpassed them in almost every class and had earned the right to speak for her division at the graduation.

He never told her though, how proud he was. Not until many years later.

* * *

_You don't know how you touched my life  
Oh in so many ways I just can't describe  
You taught me what love is supposed to be_

From the second Jim landed on Altamid in his escape pod, he worried for his crew. He was thankful Chekov was with him, that was one crew member accounted for. But the rest... He had seen so many pods being captured by swarm ships as he fell towards the atmosphere and it had given him a sick feeling in his gut.

How many were dead? How many had made it to the surface? What had they met there? More danger?

He tried not to let his worry cloud his judgement as he, Chekov and Kalara made their way back to Enterprise's saucer section. As he exposed Kalara's true intentions. As he and Chekov blew up the saucer to save themselves. As they found Scotty and Jaylah and made plans to rescue the others.

Thinking back on it all, it was all a blur to Jim. Finding out about the Franklin and Edison and what he had planned. The whole rescue operation was just blank, with the occasional flash of memory here and there. Grabbing Jaylah's hand in the air and being beamed back, the moment when the first swarm ships exploded, and Edison being ejected into space. Those three memories stood clear in his mind. Not even the aftermath – the medical check-up and the reports and the counsellor session he was required to have, all of it seems like a blur when he thinks back years later.

But like a bad classical movie, the blurry out of control world seemed to clear up and right itself the moment he laid his eyes on her at the birthday party Bones had arranged for him. He hadn't seen her during the rescue mission but trusted that she had been beamed onto the Franklin if she was alive. He had enquired about her after everything was said and done, but there hadn't been time to find her. It was a relief though, to see her safe and sound, albeit a bit tired and with a small bruise on her jaw. They had just started exploring the possibilities of a romantic relationship, and he was glad he still had the chance to pursue it.

She met his eyes and the classical movie-clichés continued, as his heart skipped several beats and he felt his face flush. He only hoped Bones didn't notice because the good doctor would think he was getting sick and would start pressing that wretched tricorder to his face again.

Jim flashed her a quick smile, regretting that he was stuck in a conversation with Spock and not able to go talk to her. But when she smiled back and raised her glass in a greeting, he turned to Spock.

"I'm sorry, Spock. But we have to continue this conversation later, there's someone I have to see." And without even waiting for an answer, Jim rushed through the crowd to where she leant on a table near the windows at the back of the room.

"Hi," she said. "Glad to see you're okay."

"You too," Jim said, feeling a bit breathless. The relief of seeing her alive and well was greater than he realised. "I've heard great things about how you held your own against Krall's men."

She flushed in embarrassment. "I'm sure it's all lies."

"I doubt it. And Scotty says that you averted a crisis on the Franklin, while we were falling to the ground."

"Oh, it was nothing. He could have handled it."

"No, he said he wouldn't have seen it. And if you hadn't redirected the power, Sulu would have never been able to take off."

Silence fell between them. Then she raised her glass to her lips, a playful expression crossed her face. "You come here just to embarrass me with praise?"

"No. I'm just proud of you. But... Can we talk later?" Jim asked quietly, staring into her eyes, watching them go from crinkly and smiley to worried at his question. "It's nothing to worry about," he hurried to add. "Nothing bad, I hope. I just... need to talk. About us."

"Okay, yes, we can talk." Her smile came back. "By the fountain out in the centre square? Or somewhere more private?"

"The fountain is okay. And then we'll see how it goes." Jim winked and was pleased to see her face flush again and her eyes blink rapidly for a moment.

Then she nodded with a small smile, recovering quickly. "Happy birthday, Jim," she said, laid her hand on his arm and leaned in to kiss him quickly on the cheek. And before he knew it, she was gone.

* * *

_Love you give shines right through me  
Everything you do is beautiful  
Oh, you're beautiful to me_

The room was packed with colourful and exotic costumes and dresses. Tables along walls with bright and flavourful food from most of the different members of the Federation. Flowers one could never find on Earth were set up in tasteful centrepieces on all the round tables, each one high and grand enough to strike awe, but each one restrained so as to not block the view of the other guests around the table. It all brightened up an otherwise bland ballroom on New Vulcan.

Jim had to admit it was strange seeing all this materialistic beauty, and frankly, a little bit of gluttony, on New Vulcan. But the Federation felt it was politically necessary to have this banquet there to show off how far the Vulcans had come in the years since Nero destroyed their planet. And it showed how adaptable they were, without losing themselves.

Movement at the table Jim had just left in order to get a plate of fruit caught his eye. In a dress in a shimmering colour that reminded him of the oceans on Risa at night, his wife grabbed Uhura's hand and pulled the communications officer up and to the dance floor.

Wow, wife. It felt too strange. They'd only been married for a month, and Jim was still getting used to the thought of being a husband, being tied down to one person for the rest of his life. He had never thought he'd get to that point, but he was happy he had. And thinking back, he should have known it would happen since the day he was paired with her for that project in Astrophysics at the Academy.

Jim watched his wife dance with Uhura, hypnotized by the way she moved. And he realised he hadn't yet danced with her that evening. So, he set the plate of fruit down and navigated between the other dancers and tapped Uhura on the shoulder, his eyes on his wife.

"May I cut in?"

Uhura glanced between the two, a small smile on her lips. "She's all yours, Captain. It's about time I get Spock onto the dancefloor anyway."

"Hello, husband," she greeted as he took her hand in one of his and laid the other low on her back. "I never get tired of saying that."

"And I never get tired of hearing you say that, wife." He dived quickly in for a quick kiss. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Meh, these events are so dull. It's much better now though." She winked.

They danced in silence, eyes only on each other. As far as they were concerned, there was no one else there.

How far they'd come, Jim thought. She, from a cadet from a mining-colony to Commander-rank and Scotty's Assistant Chief Engineer. Assistant, because becoming just Chief meant being transferred to another ship. Jim, from a hot-headed too young captain who could never settle, to a diplomatic explorer with a crew he would die for and would die for him.

And the two of them, from good friends to her running scared when he flirted with her for the first time, to best friends years later and then husband and wife. Jim knew without a doubt that he wouldn't be the man he was without her. He had been ready to give up the life of captain, he had lost his way and his purpose. That talk by the fountain on his birthday on Yorktown all those years ago... He told her how he felt about her, and how he felt so lost in his life. She had taken his hand, and kissed him for the first time. And it fell into place for him. She tasted like space, she belonged in space. And so, did he. In space and with her.

Jim halted their dance.

"What?" she asked, looking concerned.

"I just... love you," he said, the hand on her back pulling her closer and his lips meeting hers.


End file.
